Bomber's Away: Rama Calls It Quits
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday August 26, 2008
THE extraordinary career of one of Essendon's favourite sons, Adam Ramanauskas, will end this week, with the 27-year-old announcing his retirement yesterday.
In his nine years as an AFL player, Ramanauskas has earned a reputation as a brilliant footballer whose career was tragically curtailed by his struggles with cancer. Ramanauskas returned to the game this season after overcoming a cancerous tumour in his shoulder - the second time he had beaten the illness in five years. But the running half-back flanker has struggled to regain the form that established him as one of the league's most promising players early in his career. It was this struggle that led him to make the decision two weeks ago that this season would be his last."I just found myself in the position that I didn't want to hold the club back," Ramanauskas said yesterday. "I probably could have toughed it out for another year or two, but who's to say I would have been happy doing that?" Ramanauskas was a key member of Essendon's 2000 premiership side, distinguishing himself with excellent skills and an instinctive ability to read the play. But in 2003 his life, and career, was disrupted when he found a cancerous tumour in his shoulder. He had surgery and radiotherapy and confounded the experts by returning to football the next season, playing every game in 2004. The Peter Mac Cancer Centre's David Thomas said Ramanauskas's comeback cannot be underplayed. "It's a massive deal, particularly for an elite athlete," Thomas said. "To come back from the treatment he's had must have been a quite remarkable achievement on his behalf."
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald
